All pupils must learn to cook a meal, says Premier

Pupils will learn "life skills" such as cooking, writing CVs and dabbling on the stock market in a lessons shake-up unveiled today.

Tony Blair will insist that classes at secondary school should become more practical - but his plans triggered a "dumbing down" row last night.

He is expected to say in a speech that pupils should in future leave school knowing "life skills for the 21st century".

Under the shake-up, youngsters will be trained in writing CVs and job applications in English while in maths they will learn how to invest their money and fill in tax returns. They should also know how to cook a meal.

The Government has already announced an overhaul of GCSE exams in English and maths following fierce criticism from employers that school-leavers are ill-equipped for work.

They complained that youngsters can sail through GCSEs despite struggling with grammar and elementary maths.

Under the changes pupils will have to pass part of the papers assessing "functional" maths and English in order to gain good grades.

Mr Blair is expected to say key lessons should become even more practical in an announcement which is certain to spark fears that Shakespeare could be sidelined.

Chris Woodhead, former head of Ofsted, said: "The Government seems to be determined to reduce the teaching of English and maths to that which is immediately useful in the world. The Government is wrong. I don't believe in life skills. I believe in learning to read and write and important things like history and geography.

"I think this is dumbing down. It has a superficial attraction in that it seems relevant and useful but is in fact a denial of everything that is important in education."

Mr Blair will also stoke controversy by encouraging schools to consider offering a tougher alternative to A-levels.

He is expected to tell the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust conference in Birmingham he wants more schools to offer pupils the option of studying the International Baccalaureate.

The qualification was recently judged academically superior to A-levels and assessed as being worth more university entrance points.

Mr Blair's glowing words about the IB could further undermine A-levels at a time when ministers are attempting to reform them to restore public confidence.

Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Blair will insist that his flagship new breed of 'trust' schools is taking off. He will reveal he wants 100 schools to be working with outside organisations in "trusts" by spring next year.

But Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the SSAT, will claim heads and senior teachers at almost 400 comprehensives are substandard and should be sacked. Sir Cyril, a Government adviser, declared that schools with poor results were often burdened with weak leaders.

But they were also forced to admit more than their fair share of disruptive youngsters, hampering efforts to raise standards.

Successful schools should accept more unruly children to prevent troublemakers becoming concentrated in struggling comprehensives.

Sir Cyril will say he has identified 384 "low-attaining" comprehensives which could be turned into academies or taken over by high-performing schools. The first step to reforming them would be "terminating" the contracts of weak staff, he said.